Press Release

Toll of Lebanon Valley College Accepts Offer to Become
FGCU's Provost, Vice President for Academic Affairs
4/7/2008

FORT MYERS, FL - Florida Gulf Coast University announces the appointment of Ronald Toll to the position of Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs. He will join the University on July 1.

"I am thrilled to join Florida Gulf Coast University, and to be a member of such a dynamic and vibrant learning community," Toll said.

"As a biological oceanographer, I look forward to returning to the water's edge. Florida Gulf Coast University's environmentally driven mission was an important component in my decision to join the University, and I look forward to advancing that mission."

Toll is currently Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty, and full professor of Biology at Lebanon Valley College in Pennsylvania. From 1999 to 2005 he was Dean for the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, and Special Assistant to the President for Technology and Corporate Relations from 2003 to 2005 at the University of Central Arkansas.

From 1995 to 1999, Toll held several titles at Wesleyan College including chair in the Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics and the Department of Biology, and Munroe Professor of Life Sciences (endowed chair).

Toll was associate and assistant professor of Biology at University of the South in Tennessee from 1990 to 1993. He is widely published in professional periodicals and journals.

"We are pleased Dr. Toll will join FGCU in this key position," said Florida Gulf Coast University President Wilson G. Bradshaw. "The pool of candidates was strong, and after conferring with the search advisory committee and University's leadership, I selected Dr. Toll for the position. I am appreciative of the committee's good work in bringing forward such strong candidates for my consideration, and I am looking forward to working with Dr. Toll as FGCU moves into its second decade."

Toll earned a Ph.D. in Biological Oceanography from the University of Miami in 1982, a Bachelor of Arts in Zoology from Rutgers University in 1977, and an Associate in Arts in Biology from Union College in New Jersey in 1975. In 2004, he earned a graduate certificate from Harvard Institute for Management and Leadership in Education.

For more information, contact Chief of Staff and University Spokesperson Susan Evans at (239) 590-1057.